A Bitter Pill
by Kagome-Inu5
Summary: "It's not that I hate you, Gwen. It's that, well, if you were on fire and I had the only source of water, I'd of drank it before I gave it to you." - Set a year after TDWT, implied DxC.


"Stupid piece of junk!" Courtney shouted irritably, slamming her fists against her steering wheel, and jumping when the horn gave a shrill cry.

Parked at the local grocery store with a trunk full of plastic bags, Courtney glared out her windshield at her misfortune. Her car, which she had been _telling _her parents was barely alive anymore, had finally given up the fight, and refused to start up from where it sat.

In short, she was now stuck here in the parking lot, with groceries that would go bad, did they not reach a refrigerator, pronto.

Closing her eyes, and taking three calming breaths- as her yoga instructor told her to do when feeling stressed- Courtney exited her beat up, red VW Bug, then proceeded to storm over to her trunk and tugged it open. Loading her arms up with bags, she knew what she had to do.

* * *

><p>She positively <em>dreaded <em>public transportation. Imagine how filthy every inch of that long white bus must be? It made her shudder, only imagining. Now, here she was, about to board such a germ pool with an armful of grocery bags.

What if the germs contaminated her food? She held back a whimper at the thought.

Biting her lip anxiously when the bus finally pulled up to her stop, she juggled her purchased food-items precariously while digging through her purse for some change so she would be allowed to ride. The fact that you had to _pay _to be accepted on something that made her skin crawl, made her want to send a furious letter to whoever came up with the idea.

Finally pulling out the required seventy-five cents, she gasped as one of the little bags slipped off her arm, and headed for the concrete.

"Got'cha!" A female voice exclaimed victoriously, snagging the bag before it collied with the ground below. Smiling, the girl lifted her head to come face to face with Courtney, who looked wide-eyed for a brief moment. Then, that look of surprise, shifted into utter disgust.

"What are _you _doing here?" The CIT spat, snatching the bag from the one who had saved it, and slinging it back on her arm.

"No, that's okay, I didn't expect a thank you, anyways." Gwen waved her hand dismissively, sarcasm making the brunette's blood boil further. They hadn't crossed paths in over a year, something Courtney had been quite pleased about. She'd be happy to forget about her, and.. the _hooligan _that associated with her.

"Ladies, would you hurry it up? I don't _have_ all day!" The angry, male bus driver shouted at the two, who glanced at one another before scrambling inside the vehicle . Determined not to let the goth ruin her day further, Court marched straight to the back of the bus and claimed a seat there with a huff. To her discontentment, Gwen sat next to her.

"There are plenty of empty seats around." Courtney quipped snottily, keeping her gaze locked out the window as the wheels began moving forward.

Out of the corner of her eye, Courtney saw Gwen's lips twitch, hinting a rather grim smile. "God, you don't ever let anything go, do you?"

"You never answered me first question. What are you doing here?"

The cool, collected tone she'd now acquired almost seemed frightening. "Well, my grandma lives around here... I'm gonna go visit her with my family later. I'm just killing time until then."

Courtney nodded, but didn't offer any input.

Falling quiet herself, Gwen played with a lock of her teal hair, where Courtney noticed something shiny.

"You got your ears pierced?" She asked, hand reaching up almost absent-mindedly to touch the dangling silver, but she quickly caught herself and lowered her appendage.

Gwen lifted her own hand up to brush the long silver strand, which had a creepy looking skull hanging off the end of it. "Oh, yeah. A couple months ago. Duncan said I'd look good with pierced..." She trailed off, sensing the danger-zone the conversation was about to head in.

Instead of dramatically ranting and raving about it like she had expected, Courtney simply turned her eyes to look out the window again.

The two remained silent for a moment; the only sound was the whirring of the engine and the light humming coming from the bus driver. The girls were lucky enough to have the bus to themselves.

"How is he?"

"What?"

"Duncan... How is he?" Courtney whispered, her heart clenching up at the mere mention of his name.

"He's good." Gwen smiled lightly, the tension in the air nearly stifling, but she pressed on. "Still childish, and obsessed with anything gory."

Courtney blew out a breath. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting Gwen to say. Perhaps that they had recently broken up, or that Duncan had mentioned he missed her, but that was only her wishful thinking, it seemed.

"Are you two happy?"

Gwen considered the question carefully. "I think so," She said slowly.

Courtney's expression visibly darkened.

"Will you ever stop hating me?" Gwen asked, directing her attention to her favourite pair of black combat boots instead of the female sitting next to her.

"It's not that I hate you, Gwen," Courtney started, shifting on the seat rather awkwardly, -she couldn't stop thinking about the revolting people who must of sat there, before her- "It's that, well, if you were on fire and I had the only source of water, I'd of drank it before I gave it to you."

The goth let a chuckle slip through her lips. Time has lessened the dislike she'd felt for Courtney. Now, she was nothing more than a minor annoyance that she had no real ill-will towards.

The bus then slowly rolled to a halt, and the balding man up front looked back at the two. "This your stop?"

Courtney scanned the area, then nodded. She could walk the rest of the way home.

She didn't bother with a thank you, or a goodbye, instead the Hispanic simply got up and left without a word.

Once she was gone, and the bus began rolling again, Gwen hunched in her seat.

"He misses you..."


End file.
